Lawmakers Sign Off on Workers' Comp Bills

Traditionally, after the enactment of any major insurance reforms, the spoken, and often times unspoken rule is that a certain number of years must pass before it can be fully evaluated. This maxim generally holds true depending on the line of insurance with the exception being if there is some crisis or timeline that requires lawmakers to act. For example, one or more major hurricanes can be enough to send lawmakers back to Tallahassee and address snags in the safety nets that are designed to ensure policyholders have the resources they need to cope with a disaster. In the case of auto personal injury protection insurance reform, lawmakers established their own deadline as a means to force themselves to deal with the issue. As it is Florida’s no-fault law is scheduled to expire in October due to lawmakers’ inability to hammer out a solution to the much-maligned law. The only thing standing between the sunset of the no-fault law and its possible resurrection is if the issue is included in a June special session on property taxes.

Arguably, the most regulated line of property and casualty insurance, workers’ compensation, presents a different set of variables. Problems develop over time and often center on legal decisions that can take years to be resolved. That is why workers’ compensation crises are systemic in nature and largely immune from the types of changes that require immediate action on the part of lawmakers. Case in point, after three years of study, lawmakers finally enacted the 2003 reforms, marking the first time in ten years that lawmakers enacted a new law. As a loose rule when it comes to workers’ compensation, lawmakers, regulators, and employer/carriers generally adopt the position that it takes major reforms four years before they are fully reflected in the cost of claims and thoroughly tested in the courts. So far, the verdict on the 2003 reforms is positive as seen in the drop in employers’ premiums and the economic performance of carriers. Lawmakers, however, did address a few workers’ compensation issues in the 2007 session, most of which have debated by lawmakers over the past several years.